Khodorkovsky applies to Swiss for Schengen visa: Swiss ministry

Khodorkovsky, 50, has been staying in Berlin since Russian President Vladimir Putin's surprise decision last week to free him after a decade in prison on fraud and tax evasion charges. Khodorkovsky has close ties to Switzerland.

"He made a request for a visa, which will be studied," Swiss foreign ministry spokesman Jean-Marc Crevoisier told Reuters, speaking from the capital Berne. "One could imagine that he intends to come to Switzerland."

The spokesman said the request was for a three-month visa.

Khodorkovsky's second wife Inna has a home in Geneva, where several of his companies had operations, the Swiss daily Le Matin said on Tuesday, quoting the Russian state-run radio Voice of Russia.

Khodorkovsky, whose release from a Russian prison camp near the Arctic Circle and flight to Germany last Friday were shrouded in mystery reminiscent of the Cold War era, said on Sunday he had received a visa to stay in Germany for one year.

He gave no further information on the matter.

Germany is also part of the visa-free Schengen zone, which includes a majority of European Union member states and several countries outside the bloc including Switzerland.

Germany's former foreign minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher played a key role in securing Khodorkovsky's arrival in Berlin.